


Afterglow

by wekingsandprettythings



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Anal Sex, Bottom Phil, Coming Out, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Smut, top dan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-08 06:17:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21471412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wekingsandprettythings/pseuds/wekingsandprettythings
Summary: Princess Alice is on the hunt for a husband before she can become Queen. However, her brother, Prince Philip, has fallen in love with one of her suitors.
Relationships: Dan Howell & Phil Lester, Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 13
Kudos: 81





	1. Chapter 1

Every week he’s seen his sister walking the grounds with a new man, Princess Alice is on the hunt for a husband before she can become Queen. She takes the same route every time, around the fountain towards the weeping willow where she will sit and ask them why they wish to court her.

Prince Philip stands on the balcony and he watches. Partly because he is worried that his sister surrounding herself by men who just want to be king, and mostly because he wishes he could find a husband for himself. Not just any husband either, Prince Daniel, who’s supposed to be meeting with his sister next week.

He had met Prince Daniel years ago. On his 16th birthday, he had all the other princes and dukes visit for the weekend, his brother and him met with around 14 other boys for that weekend. It was a chance for him to scope out another gay prince but also for his family to find someone for his sister.

All the boys sat with Martyn, they listened to his stories from military training camp, his sister had stolen Prince Gabriel away to flirt with him for the evening, and Phil had snuck off with Dan into the gardens. Behind the hedges, in the dark, they looked up at the stars and talked about their mutual hatred for not being the ones getting the thrown but still having to act prim and propper.

Sometimes he goes to the garden to sit and remember his night with Dan. he brings the corgis for a “walk” and sits by himself where he once sat with Dan.

“Next year my parents want me to marry,” Dan had whispered, “and I don’t even like women.”

Phil remembers placing his hand on Dan’s, “Me either.”

“Maybe one day it won’t be so hard to be a gay royal, maybe if I can put it off till you’re 18 we’d be able to marry.”

Phil brought his hand to his cheek at the memory, blushing now as he did back then. They had become pen palls, messaging each other all the time for the last 6 years but without any excuse to meet up with each other, not until now. Not until his sister had to spend a week with him and choose whether or not she wanted to marry him, and that thought didn’t sit well with Phil.

Phil walked back into their home, Buckingham palace was starting to seem a bit small for 3 adults to still be living there with their parents. His sister was next in line, she would be queen soon, so she had taken over the whole east wing of the palace. It was enough for her to start her new life in, to make a home while she was becoming queen.

Phil walked up to her door and knocked, requesting a moment with his sister. A moment alone at that.

“What is it Philip, Prince Sebastian just left and I’m exhausted from being nice,” His sister spoke calmly, walking into the room with tea and having the door closed behind her.

“I need to ask you something potentially a bit crazy,” he said, surprised that he wasn’t stumbling on his words.

“Every thought in your head is mildly crazy, so go ahead,” she smiled.

“When Prince Daniel comes tomorrow, can you promise me you won’t fall in love with him?”

She took a sip of her tea, “I wasn’t planning too,” she eventually said. “Why?”

Phil took a deep breath, “I want to marry him.”

She smiled at him, “well then,” she spoke far more chipper than she was before. “I will be taking the week off from my duties and you shall have some time to court Prince Daniel.”

“Thank you, Alice, it’s been six years since he was last here, I truly want to be with him.”

“What’s he like?” she asked, putting her feet up on the coffee table and sinking further into her chair.

Phil sat right up straight, “he has these beautiful chocolate eyes, and the curliest brown hair I’ve ever seen in my life I want to spend the rest of my life running my fingers through his hair.”

“Wow.”

“And he has a wonderful way with words, he writes me poetry and tells me about his weeks in so much detail, he blows me away with how amazing his mind is, he’s so wonderful,” he couldn’t stop smiling. “And I’m really in love with him Alice.”

“Do mum and dad know?”

“I told dad I’m gay, he told mum when she came back from Canada last month. They weren’t shocked,” he said softly, “they told me I can marry whoever I want and make it as public as I want, being 3rd in line I can abdicate if I wanted to and they’d still let me have the Manchester house.”

“But do they know it’s Daniel you want to marry?”

“I don’t want to tell them until I know that Dan still wants to marry me,” he spoke with his voice low, not as confident as he was before.

“What do you mean by still?”

“He came here for my sixteenth birthday, we snuck off into the garden to talk and get to know each other,” he explained. “He liked me, we spent the night kissing under the stars, gross I know, but he said maybe one day when being gay wasn’t illegal he’d want to marry me.”

“Then why didn’t he come to visit when it was made legal?” she was full of questions.

He sighed, “because he is afraid, his dad isn’t the nicest about gay people, and he’s the oldest son. They’re already upset enough that he’s not married, I don’t think they’re going to be too happy to learn he wants to marry me.”

“Do you have a plan then?”

I’m going to court him, show him that it doesn’t have to be scary, and if need be, I know the queen would speak to his father if she needed to,” he said with a grin, “the current or the new one.”

Alice smiled right back, “I’d make sure his family was never invited back here if they ever tried to say anything about you.”

-

He read all the letters back, from the first-ever letter a week after they had met, to the last one he sent. But he couldn’t stop re-reading the one in which Dan explained how much he loved him. It was the first time he had said it, the first time Phil knew that someone loved him. The first time he felt like he was allowed to be loved.

_Dear Phil,_

_I can’t believe it’s been 6 years now since we met. 6 years since the first time I felt safe, six years since the first kiss I ever had with a man. 6 years since I fell madly in love with you._

_I miss you every day. I miss how cold your hands were against mine. I miss the feeling of your nose pressed into my cheek while we kiss. I miss how your breath smells like marshmallows and your hair smells like strawberries. I miss holding you in my arms. I still can’t believe we got to sleep in the same bed, I can’t believe I’ve gone so long without hearing your heartbeat as I laid my head on your chest._

_Soon we’ll be together again, I just confirmed that I will be visiting your sister in the spring to explore an opportunity to court her. I hope you don’t mind me using your sister as a way to crawl back into your bed and hold you for hours. I want to hug you long enough to memorise how you breathe, I want to know your heartbeat like it’s my favourite song, I want to kiss you till my lips go numb._

_I love you, Phil, I can’t wait to see you._

_Love Dan_

He held it against his chest, and he couldn’t wait to hold Dan instead.

-

He paced the grounds for what felt like hours before Dan was supposed to visit. He spent forever on his hair, he made his sister help him pick a button-down shirt and now he was sitting on the bench behind the hedge with a picnic set up for when Dan got there.

Alice promised to meet him at the door, to lead him to the gardens and to Phil where he was going to ask Dan to marry him. He didn’t want to spend a whole week leading up to it, he wanted to ask and have Dan choose to stay longer if he agreed.

“Phil?”

He spun around as fast as he could, Dan’s face was right there, his whole being was right there and he just stared at him with his mouth hung open. He was taller, his curls were longer, he looked so much older and prettier as if that was even possible.

He walked up to him and pulled him into a hug, holding him as tightly as humanly possible. He smelled the same, like warm, if that was even possible. “I missed you,” he whispered into Phil’s ear.

“I missed you more,” he said as he pulled back to take one more look at him, “so much more.”

Dan smiled, that beautiful Dan smile that Phil etched into his mind all those years ago. Dan’s hand snaked around the back of his neck and pulled Phil into a kiss. He pressed his lips against Phil’s ever so softly, so much softer than the first time it had happened. They weren’t horny questioning teenagers anymore.

His lips were softer now than before like he had taken good care of them leading up to his trip. He pulled back and pecked at Dan’s lips a few more times before they stopped to look at each other once more. Dan’s eyes were so dark he could see his reflection in them, they sparkled as he smiled, and Phil felt like he could get lost in them forever.

“What is all of this?” Dan asked, “I thought I was here to start a courtship with your sister?”

“I told her I didn’t want her to fall in love with you, that she could have the week off from her duties because,” he said softly before swallowing sharply, “because I wanted to court you.”

“Phil,” Dan replied softly, tilting his head to the side as he stared at him.

“We’re safe here, my whole family knows that I’m gay, they’re okay with it,” he said with excitement, he took Dan’s hands in his and lead him to the blanket where they could sit. “You never have to come out, I will abdicate and my parents said I can live in our Manchester home away from prying eyes. Come with me, be with me, be mine.”

“I’m scared,” he said, looking down at his hands where he was fiddling with his thumbs in his lap.

Phil reached into the picnic basket, where he had a plain silver wedding band inside a small velvet black box which he has taken from the crown jewels room. He held it in his hands, he saw Dan’s eyes wander to it and go wide. “Phil,” he said once more.

“Daniel James Howell, I’ve fallen in love with you. I knew you were special the moment I met you but with every single word from every single letter you ever sent me I fell more and more in love with you. And with every letter I wrote back, I gave you a piece of my heart each time. Now with this, I want you to have the last bit of my heart forever.” He opened the box, he lifted himself onto one knee, and he tried his hardest to look at Dan though his tears.

“Will you marry me Dan?” he asked. “It doesn’t have to be tomorrow, or next week, or even next year. I can wait as long as it takes for you to be ready, I will do whatever it takes to help you feel ready. Just let me be by your side and love you forever.”

Dan nodded his head so fast it might have fallen off. “Yes Phil, of course!” he cried.

He held his left hand out and with shaky hands, Phil slid the ring onto Dan’s finger. “You can pick any other ring you want this is just a placeholder till we can get a nicer one.”

“Phil I don’t care what it looks like,” he said as he placed his hands on Phil’s cheeks to hold his head in his hands and stare into his eyes. “It means you’re mine now and I’m yours and that’s all I want,”

Phil leaned in to kiss him once again, pushing him down against the ground where he laid his body on him and continued to kiss him. He held him there against the blanket, he could feel the grass poking through where he laid his hands to steady himself. So much time had passed since the last time he kissed Dan in that spot, but the feelings were still the same.

It was exhilarating, not only to kiss the person he was in love with but because he was a man. Because he was being the queer person he always dreamed of being. He was happily in love with a man he was hopefully going to marry and that was so fascinating to him. He was finally happy. They were going to be happy together.

Forever.

-

At dinner that night Phil finally introduced Dan to Queen Katheryn and Prince Nigel. He was a pleasure to meet, he was kind and attentive. He was smart and entered every conversation with the knowledge of everything going on. They spoke of politics and world issues, Dan told them about the programs he wished to start if he could meet with her majesty later during his trip to get her approval.

They saw the ring on his finger, they didn’t ask. They knew Phil would tell them when it was time for them to know. And that time was during desert when all the kitchen staff had left for their own meals.

“I asked Dan to marry me,” he announced. “And he said yes.”

“Oh Philip dear that is wonderful news,” his mother cheered, “but wasn’t he here for Alice?”

Phil laughed quietly, “yes, I asked Alice yesterday if she wouldn’t mind taking the week off while I spent time with Dan. I’ve been interested in marrying him since he was here for my birthday with the other princes.”

“Daniel my boy, does your family know? Should we invite them over for dinner as well?” Prince Nigel asked.

Dan shook his head, “they wouldn’t approve, my father was objective to the legalization of gay marriage, he wouldn’t like this at all. I don’t know how to tell him.”

“Well,” the queen said, “I’m going to have to meet with Timothy. It’s not much paperwork to remove him as duke of Wokingham. If he doesn’t allow his son the right to wed another man he has no place in our lives.”

Phil watched a tear run down Dan’s cheek. “Thank you, your highness.”

“Call me Kath,” she said softly. “Or better yet, call me mum.”

“Thank you, mum,” he smiled softly. The cutest softest smile Phil had ever seen.

He reached his hand out to hold Dan’s from across the table. “Once everything is settled I would like to take you up on the offer of living in the Manchester home.”

“Yes of course son, we will get you a designer to help make it more home-like for you both,” Kath said with a wide smile, “when I took over this Palace I remodelled so much, to make it more like my home and less like my fathers. You have to change it to make new memories.”

“Thank you, that will be amazing!” Dan said, squeezing Phil’s hand in his excitement.

“I’m going to send a fax to your father tomorrow requesting a meeting. Would you like to tell him first before I step in or would you rather I tell him you will be getting married to my son?” his mother asked.

“Honestly, I might send him an email tonight explaining it all. And then you can have your way with him.”

The queen nodded, “alright then. No matter what he says, if he tries to disown you or throw you out, this is your family now. We will take care of you.”

“Thank you, I can’t wait to marry your son,” he said while smiling at Phil.

Phil squeezed his hand again, smiling back at him and shaking his head as he couldn’t believe that Dan was finally going to be his forever. They were going to lead an amazing life together.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> quick smut at the beginning at this chapter

Luckily the boys that Alice had been meeting with had been staying in Phil’s quarters anyway. Meaning that Dan was able to leave his bedroom and enter Phil’s that night instead. Phil had dimmed his lights all the way down. He lit some candles, he had showered and prepped and he was standing there by the door in a robe, waiting for Dan.

Dan slipped into his room quietly. Closing the door behind himself, he leaned against it and stared at Phil as he walked over to him.

“Hi,” he whispered as Phil pressed his body up against Dan’s.

Dan was still in his clothes from the day, he was still wearing his shoes, which meant that Phil was currently a lot shorter than him. He had to look up into his eyes, he ran his hands up his chest till they were resting on his shoulders.

“I love you,” Phil whispered.

“I love you too,” Dan replied before kissing him deeply.

Phil was so drawn to him, Dan breathed in deeply through his nose in the kiss and it felt like he was sucking Phil’s soul out of him. Phil broke the kiss to look up at him again, “and I want you to make love to me.”

“Are you sure?”

Phil nodded softly, “I’ve spent so many nights thinking about it. About giving myself to you, letting you take me, taking you, being close to you. I have stayed up so many nights thinking of how soft your skin would be, what it would be like to press a kiss to every inch of your skin. Of all the things I’d let you do to me.”

“Fuck,” Dan breathed out.

“_Take me_.”

Dan picked him up, Phil wrapped his legs around Dan’s waist as he walked them to the bed. He laid Phil down softly. Kissing him quickly before he pulled back to take his own clothes off. He took off his striped shirt to reveal the slightest bit of abs, he kicked his shoes off under Phil’s bed, he undid the velcro flap on his trousers before peeling them off as well.

He was standing there in his pants now. Phil laid on the edge of the bed, legs spread for Dan to slip himself back into that spot. “Scoot up,” Dan insisted, and Phil made his way up to the pillows.

“Do you have everything we need?” he asked.

“Under the pillow,” Phil said, “lube I managed to order online into the palace and some condoms I stole from Martyn.”

“Is he really sleeping with the Sweedish embassador’s daughter? Are the papers right?” he asked with a small giggle.

“Oh yeah he’s very smitten about her,” Phil smiled, “now stop talking about my brother and kiss me.”

Dan got back in between Phil’s legs, pressing their bodies together before kissing him again. Finally, with some heat behind it, he licked at Phil’s bottom lip as if asking permission to clash their tongues together. The soft wet heat of his tongue against Phil’s made him shiver. It had been years since they kissed, and he still got the same butterflies in his stomach from it.

Phil moved to kiss down his neck, he ran his hands up Dan’s back before scratching down it to hear the beautiful moan that escaped from Dan’s lips. Dan moved down his body, he undid the tie around his robe and opened it. Seeing Phil naked for the first time, he ran his fingertips down his chest softly, making the hair on his chest stand up and his nipples hard.

He ran his hands all the way down to his hips, where he was laying with his legs spread open, his hard cock lying against his groin, waiting for attention. Dan just looked at him, like he was taking it all it for a moment, taking pictures with his mind.

“You’re beautiful,” he said softly.

“So are you.”

“Can we take this all the way off?”

Phil sat up and struggled his way out of the robe, throwing it to the floor before plopping back down against the bed. “You’re next,” Phil said, pointing at the tent in Dan’s pants.

He watched Dan try to get out of his as sexily as possible, it didn’t work he just made Phil giggle with his tongue pocking out through his teeth.

“Can I try something I’ve always wanted to do?” Dan asked.

“Yeah, explore with me.”

Dan smiled softly, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to Phil’s hipbone and Phil knew exactly what he wanted to do. Phil couldn’t stop watching with wide eyes as Dan’s gripped him and kissed the tip before licking all the way up along his shaft. He was losing his virginity to the love of his life and all the emotions hit him like he was just hit by a bus.

It felt amazing. If kissing him made him have butterflies, having Dan’s mouth around his dick was erupting a whole flock of birds in his stomach. He felt like he couldn’t breathe, not in a way that he was close but in the sense that he was so overwhelmed with his feelings of love and the feelings of arousal he wanted to explode.

“Dan, Dan, Dan,” he chanted, “I’m too close.”

Dan pulled off, a strip of saliva attached the head of his dick to Dan’s swollen and red bottom lip. He wiped it off with the back of his hand, staring at Phil, his eyes were black now with passion. There wasn’t any brown left, it was phenomenal.

“Can I stretch you?” he asked.

Phil swallowed sharply, he couldn’t believe it was going to happen. “Please,” he said, handing the bottle of lube to Dan.

Phil laid back and closed his eyes while Dan inserted finger after finger into him, pumping them in and out in a rhythm that made his see stars behind his eyes till he touched something, something that made him jolt forward and moan like he had never moaned before. He smacked his hand across his mouth and stared at Dan with wide eyes.

“Fuck.”

Dan smiled and pulled his fingers off. “Condom?” he smirked.

Phil passed it to him, he spread his legs more and tried to position himself for Dan to have the most access, “put a pillow under your back,” Dan told him, “it’ll raise your hips up more.”

So he did, and Dan was right. It was the perfect access for Dan to press himself into him. Slowly, inch by inch Phil felt the burn of Dan stretching him. He breathed heavy, trying to calm himself and allow Dan to bottom out. It felt so weird, it felt intense, he felt like he was feeling all his emotions in his ass right now.

He didn’t want to cry. He put his arm over his eyes in an attempt to look like he was blissed out but he was actually tearing up. He tried to keep a straight face but his lips frowned and quivered as the tears left his eyes.

“Phil?” Dan questioned as he pulled out again. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he said as he ran his hands along his arm.

Phil let out a sob as he lunged himself forward into Dan’s arms to hold him. “I love you, I’m sorry.”

Dan rubbed his back and nuzzled his face into Phil’s neck. “I love you too,” he whispered. “I love you so much, I’m so glad you’re taking my virginity, it means the world to me that I’m doing this with you.”

Phil pulled back to look at him, his eyes were glossy and his cheeks were wet. “Lie down against the pillows please,” he asked, getting off Dan and letting him lie down.

He sat back on Dan, leaning down against him and wrapping his arms around him. “Do it like this, I need to hold you.”

Dan thrusted back into him, making him drop down more to kiss Dan with an open mouth. He couldn’t actually kiss Dan while he fucked in and out of him, he was breathing too heavy to close his mouth for a kiss. He pressed his forehead against Dan’s, holding him so tightly as he enjoyed the moment.

The feelings were back, the intense tightening in his groin. The butterflies in his stomach, the tears in his eyes, only this time it was from immense pleasure. He couldn’t hold back on his noises, he was making high pitched moans as Dan thrusted again and again into him. He was too close to even warn Dan when he finally came.

Dan followed shortly after, erupting into the condom with a low groan and a tight grip on Phil’s hips.

“Holy fuck,” he said as he pulled out.

Phil wrapped his arms around him so tight he was like an anaconda. “I love you.”

Dan laughed, “we get to do that for the rest of our lives.”

Phil kissed him hard, breathing him in and not wanting to stop. He kissed him again and again, pecking his lips with his own before kissing his whole face. “You’re going to be my husband.”

“Daniel Lester, Duke of Edinborough sounds really nice doesn’t it?”

“God, I fucking love you,” Phil said before kissing him again.

“I love you more,” Dan finally said while Phil cuddled into him.

-

“Prince Philip,” the voice said through his locked door. “Sir, it’s almost time for breakfast would you like it in your room or at the table?”

Phil groaned and rolled away from Dan’s warm body, he got out of the bed to put his robe and glasses on and answer the door. “Good morning,” he greeted them.

“How would you like breakfast?”

“Would you please bring mine and Daniels breakfast to our room, please?”

“Oh,” they said, shocked, “I wasn’t aware Prince Daniel was in here?”

“We’re engaged, he will be here for the foreseeable future,” he explained, “may we please have some toast, soft boiled eggs and some fruit?”

“Absolutely your highness, it will be up shortly.”

He closed the door and ran his fingers through his hair. Dan was still asleep and oblivious to the world. He looked so peaceful, so handsome, he couldn’t believe he was going to wake up beside him every day for the rest of his life.

He knelt down on the floor beside Dan, looking at his sweet sleeping face. He ran his hand along his arm, “Dan my love,” he whispered, “wake up.”

“No.” he groaned, “why so early?”

“My breakfast comes at nine, meaning yours does now too,” he explained while running his hand down Dan’s arm and interlocking their fingers.

“Do I have time to shower and get dressed?” he asked, his voice was deep from sleep and his face was puffy, and Phil couldn’t stop smiling at him.

“I think you have about ten minutes, so hurry up.”

He had to show Dan to the bathroom, he laid out some towels and pyjamas for him and he waited alone in his room. The first time he’d been alone in almost 24 hours, it was weird now. Dan was such a big character in his life he doesn’t know how he lived with not talking to him every moment of every single day.

He felt stupid for thinking of how much happier he was with Dan in the same home as him now. He felt weak like he couldn’t be without him if he was to leave again, he didn’t want to miss him ever again. The last 6 years of knowing that he was in love with Dan and not able to have him had been so excruciatingly painful, he hadn’t kissed anyone else, he never flirted with anyone, he never wanted to test the waters with anyone else because they weren’t Dan. He’s known that he was going to marry him since he was 16.

He came out just in time for breakfast, the door opened, and their breakfast was set at the little table in Phil’s sitting area. “Your highness, the Queen was wondering if Prince Daniel has emailed his father yet?” his personal assistant, Lauren, asked.

“I sent it last night, I’m not sure if he has replied yet when he does, I’ll have someone inform her majesty,” he said with a smile, fixing the belt of his robe before sitting down at the table.

“Also, Prince Daniel her majesty wanted to ask if you will be returning home to pack some things or if you’d like us to send for your belongings?”

“oh,” he replied, “Phil and I will have to discuss next steps first.”

“of course, call for me if you need anything,” Lauren said with a smile before leaving the room.

“this whole wing is mine, which makes it yours now too,” Phil said as soon as they were alone. “we can get you your own wardrobe and all the essentials while we stay here.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be allowed home to get my things,” he said with his head bowed in shame.

Phil placed his hand on top of Dan’s, rubbing his thumb against his knuckles. “my mother and I will come to your house and watch you pack your bags; I don’t think you father can say no to the queen telling you to pack.”

Dan laughed lightly, “I don’t even have many things that I like there. Just a few suits and your letters but that’s it. I never bought anything important because I knew this would happen.”

“I’ll buy you anything you need; we can get you anything you need.”

“for the last 6 years I’ve had a second bank account that my parents don’t know about and I would take any cash they gave me and deposit it into that account, I’ve been saving up in case I had to leave or got kicked out.”

That broke Phil’s heart that he had to ever worry.

“We’re going to keep each other safe for the rest of time now,” was all he said, a small smile on his face and a yearning in his heart to hold him and never let him go.

-

After breakfast, Dan stepped away to go check his emails and he had asked to be alone when he did it. Phil kissed him softly before watching him leave, he held his breath as the door closed, he didn’t like even the tiniest thought of Dan being scared or upset.

He checked his own emails, he looked at his secret twitter and he saw all the YouTube content from the last 2 days he’s missed in his subscription box. He wasn’t interested in any of it, he didn’t care in the slightest, all he could think about was Dan and how he was feeling.

He sent a text to Lauren asking for her to arrange a time that he could speak with his mother if she wasn’t busy.

Lauren: your mother is currently meeting with Daniel.

Phil: oh? He didn’t tell me that he was going to see her?

Lauren: he said he needed to speak to her, it sounded urgent.

He didn’t even open the message fully he just sprinted down the hall to the Queen’s quarters. He pushed past the guards and went into the room without being announced. They all looked at him as he hunched over and caught his breath, “Philip what is it?”

“I wanted to know what’s going on.”

“My father emailed me back, well it was actually my mother on his account this morning and she’s coming to talk,” Dan explained.

“She’ll be here for lunch, go get presentable,” his mother insisted.

“Thank you for having her,” Dan said with a smile to the queen.

“Of course love.”

Dan took Phil’s hand as they left the room and walked back to Phil’s room. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Dan smiled, “my mum is nice and understanding, she’d probably going to bring my things and give us her blessing and tell me that my dad is an asshole and she’ll break the news to him nicely.”

Phil stopped and turned to him in the middle of the hallway, he put his hands on Dan’s cheeks and held his face. “Yes, but are you okay?”

“I don’t know yet,” his voice broke and his eyes were watery. “I love you,” he whispered, “and it’ll be okay.”

Phil kissed him quickly, “I love you too.”


	3. Chapter 3

Lunch was held in the garden when dutchess Karen arrived. She brought 3 suitcases of Dan’s things with her and she smiled the whole time. Dan was right about why she was the one coming, that his father had been on a hunting trip and he wouldn’t know for a day or so. But when he was to find out he’d be furious it was a boy, but respect that he was marrying the queens youngest child. 

After lunch she asked Dan to go on a walk with her, Phil stood beside his mother watching them walk away into the garden and his whole body was on edge. 

“How did you ever handle dad or any of us being upset?” Phil asked her, “because my heart feels like it’s going to fall out of my bum I’m so anxious for him.”

She smiled at him with a smile he’s never seen on his mother. “Well, it’s not very easy,” her voice was soft and she placed her hand on his shoulder. “Your father is my best and only true friend. I reckon our hearts are so intertwined we hurt together when something happens. But being together a lot helps.”

“We’ve been sending letters to each other for the last six years, we’ve talked on the phone only a few times,” he could feel the heat in his cheeks as he blushed, “and even though it’s not physical time together, I really think we’re the same.” 

“Just wait till you have a child one day, that’s a whole new level of your heart falling out of your bum,” she spoke candidly with him which wasn’t out of character for her even as the queen. “I’m constantly worried about your wellbeing even though you are 22 years old.” 

“We have a lot of conversations to have together.” 

“That you do, but I believe it will be easy with him. He’s easy.” 

“He is,” Phil said, he stared at Dan as he walked further away. “For so long I wasn’t sure if I loved him as a friend or more because of how easy it was to talk to him. He is the only person who’s carried a conversation with me and it’s lasted weeks, every letter it continued. And he’s unbelievably smart and caring as well which makes it easier because I’ve never not wanted to share something with him.” 

“Your father was arranged for me to marry, you know that, but he was also easy. I expected to not like him very much, I dreaded meeting him because I didn’t want the life of my parents or grandparents of just tolerating him. Love just sneaks up and bites you on the backside sometimes.”

“I’m excited to spend the rest of my life with him.” 

“From what I’ve heard, he feels the same with you, he wouldn’t be out there risking losing the people who brought him into existence if you didn’t mean the world to him,” she pressed her lips together in a sad smile, “it’s hard to watch, it’s hard to imagine having a child and not loving them to the fullest extent. I really do not understand how someone can try for a baby, get pregnant and birth a human being and think I will only love them on a condition that they fit the mould I shaped for them.” 

“Thank you, for not doing that to me.” 

“You shaped my mould, you made me the woman I am. You’re the reason why I am the queen that I am. You and your siblings made me want to not only be the sovereign to the people but a mother to them as well. I can’t expect things to go perfectly from anyone in this country, but they can expect me to do my best,” she said, spoken like a true queen.

Phil held his arms out to hug his mother, she was a good mother and a good queen. She separated her job from her life perfectly, in the way that she could be there for her country and still tuck him into bed at night. Her mother didn’t understand it, why she wanted to always hold her children, why she took 6 months away from queen duties for each of her children. Her mother wasn’t as warm. 

She wanted her children to grow up the way all the children in the UK did. Loved, cared for, and happy. Phil would tell anyone who asked that he imagines his childhood was as happy as any other child’s. While yes, he was handed his privilege on a silver platter and he was never hungry or cold, but those things don’t always raise happy children. He is who he is because his parents loved him and nurtured him. And he wished it was the same for every person.

He doesn’t know a lot of Dan’s stories, he doesn’t understand neglect. But his mother does, she understands never being hugged as a child. Being alone in her room and only spoken to for meetings and by the nanny. She understands feeling like an obligation and not wanted. So maybe her and Dan would get along, maybe they could have lunches, maybe she could hug Dan when he entered rooms, maybe she could give him the motherly love he’s missed out on. 

Dan and his mother were walking back, he was smiling at Phil even with sad eyes. He could cry looking at him, but he wouldn’t. Not until they were alone and only if Dan was okay with him crying over his business. 

Dan kissed his mother on the cheek when they reached the rest of them once more. “I’m off to unpack my things, I’ll meet you back in our room.” 

“Oh okay,” Phil said as Dan walked past him. 

“I think he’ll be okay,” Karen said softly. “I should be going, it was lovely seeing you, ma’am.” she bowed and was escorted back into the palace where she would wait for her car. 

Phil sucked in a deep breath and let out a sigh, “I love you, mum.”

“I love you too child,” she replied, pulling him into a hug, “go make sure he’s okay.”

-

If he wasn’t okay, Phil didn’t know. He unpacked his things into Phil’s wardrobe, it all fit and he was surprised. He had an old hatbox from his mother that was full of letters, photos and dried flowers. He had set it on the bed to look through it in complete silence while Phil sat on the other side of the room “reading” when in reality he was watching. 

He was fairly quiet at dinner, he ate his roast in peace and spoke when the topics fit his interests. He placed his hand on Phil’s knee right after desert, he ran his thumb over it slightly and looked at Phil with soft, painfilled eyes, just pleading to go back to their room. 

Back in their room, he locked their door and brought Phil right into his arms for a hug. “Is there any chance you have some bath bombs to go in that huge tub of yours?” 

“Under the sink, I can show you?” 

“Well, I hoped you’d get in with me?” he asked, shyly and timid. Like he was nervous to not only ask but to do it. 

The only person who had seen Phil naked had been Dan, but it was in a sexual sense. There was a reason for it, a purpose for the act, he wasn’t just naked for no reason. That made it easier. But being naked in the sense that he was vulnerable and on show, and just open with his body around Dan, that was scary. 

“Yeah, I’ll join you.”

Dan smiled, “I’ll go start it.”

Phil watched him walk away and towards the bath, he watched him enter the room and close the door slightly. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his feelings and press them all the way down, it was bad enough that he cried during sex yesterday he didn’t need to have an anxiety attack in the bath as well. 

He opened the front door once more to see Lauren sitting in the chair at her desk in his quarters and 2 of his guards standing in the room. “Lauren,” he called for her.

“Yes sir?” she said as she stood. 

“You’re free for the night, go do whatever it is that you do. Guards as well. Dan and I are retiring for the night,” he said with the most conspicuous face. 

“Oh, um yes we shall leave the room,” she said gathering her things frantically. 

“Sir we can’t leave you unprotected,” one of the guards spoke. 

“Then just don’t stand in this room, stand at the entrance of the wing,” he insisted. 

“As you wish sir.” was what he heard as he closed the door and locked it once again. 

He grabbed clean towels from the linen closet, and a few candles as well as a matchbox. He entered the bathroom to see Dan standing there in a robe, looking under the sink at all the options for bath bombs that Phil had stored over the last few weeks. 

“I’ve only ever used these when I went away to a hotel, where my family wouldn’t hear of me taking a girly bath,” he spoke without even turning to see Phil in the room. 

“Use whatever you wish,” Phil said as he set everything down. “There are bath salts in the drawer as well, make it as fancy and over the top as you wish but just remember you have to account for us in there as well.”

He laughed, “I was planning on flooding the palace actually.”

“Don’t tell me you’re only marrying me to overthrow the monarchy?” Phil asked as he got down and wrapped his arms around Dan where he sat on the bathroom floor.

“No, actually,” he replied with a small sigh, “I’m marrying you because of something far worse.” 

“What would that be?” 

“Because I fell in love with you.” 

“I’m in a similar predicament,” he whispered in his ear. “Now, let’s get in the tub.”

Dan reached in and picked a random bath bomb, and stood up. He placed it on the counter and turned to Phil, “you’re far too clothed for someone who’s about to get in the bath.” 

Slowly but surely he unbuttoned each and every button on Phil’s shirt, pushing it off his shoulders and freeing his arms. He threw it on the floor by his own clothes and moved to undo the button on his trousers, he pushed them down and let Phil kick his legs out of them. So now he was standing completely naked apart from his socks, right in front of Dan. 

He watched Dan untie his robe and drop it to the floor. “How would you like to sit?” 

“Pretty woman style?” Phil suggested, “you can sit between my legs?” 

Phil got in first, the water was on the edge of being too hot for him. The heat mixed with the salts made him often feel like a piece of cooked pasta after a while. But he was willing to feel like that if it meant he could wrap his legs around Dan and hold him there in a safe place till he felt okay again. 

Dan fit perfectly between his legs. He dropped the bath bomb in, smelling like citrus and tea and turning the water a beautiful turquoise colour. Phil picked up a washcloth and lightly ran it over Dan’s skin before rubbing a bar of soap over his shoulders and chest in circler motions. Dan tilted his head back against Phil’s shoulders and just let himself be pampered for the time being. 

“I’m so angry with my mother.” 

Phil kissed his cheek softly, “go off, tell me everything get as angry as you need to. Cry, scream, do what you’ve gotta do.”

“She said she loves me, and that she’s known for a few years after one of the maids read our letters and told her but not my father. She’s been waiting for this day to come,” he explained, “but what hurts the most is that she said they’ve been sleeping in different rooms and technically separated for the last 4 years. And she won’t leave him for real.” 

“I’m so sorry,” Phil said, he didn’t know what else to say. 

“She’s the royal one, she’s your mum’s 6th cousin twice removed or some shit so if she left my father he’s the one who’d have to leave and she’d be fine but she doesn’t want the scrutiny of being divorced. Which really only your family has to worry about, she’s 42nd in line she shouldn’t care.”

“Maybe she still loves him, maybe she’s afraid of being alone?” Phil suggested, trying to calm his feelings a bit. 

“Honestly, I just think she’s stupid. People care so much about their titles they rather be unhappy than lose a spot in line for the crown,” he ranted. “You would have given up your spot for me and that means so much to me, you’re the first person to put me first.” 

“I would have given up the thrown if I was first in line too if it meant I got to love you,” Phil said, his voice cracked a little at the end as he felt himself want to cry once again. 

“Thank you.” 

Phil wrapped his arms and legs around Dan and laid his chin on Dan’s shoulder. “Always,” he whispered, “I’ll always love you.”

“She’s going to tell my dad when he’s home tomorrow and then we can issue a statement that we’re having a big gay wedding that the taxpayers will be funding and every single other bigot will send us death threats, it’s going to be fantastic,” he cheered sarcastically. 

“Or we can have a small wedding up north on one of our properties with just my family and whoever you’d like to invite and it can be small and just for us,” Phil suggested. 

“I’d like that.” 

“So would I, plus my sister is probably going to be married next spring so she can have the big public traditional heterosexual wedding that the taxpayers both hate and love so much.”

“I wanted a fall wedding, in a park or something with lots of autumn leaves,” Dan said softly, peering over his shoulder to look at Phil’s eyes, “would you want that?” 

“A late October wedding would be wonderful,” Phil smiled. “So that would give us 5 months to plan.” 

“What if we did it at our house in Manchester?” 

“We can do that, it would be beautiful there. We can take a trip up next weekend if you’d like to go and map out what we want to change in the house and just see what we can do for a wedding there.”

“How big is it?” Dan asked.

Phil had to take a second to think, he hadn’t been there since he was a teenager, “probably around the same size as Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace.”

“That’s where Martyn lives right?” 

“Yeah, when he’s not in Sweeden with Cornelia. And my sister is getting ready to move into Kensington once she is married and for the few years before she becomes queen,” he explained, “mum is going to step down soon because my dad got sick last year and it scared her not being able to drop everything and just be with him.” 

“Yeah, I’d do the same thing if I was king and you were sick.” 

“And like Alice is 26, which is older than what mum was when she became queen, so she’s ready.”

Dan hummed in agreement, running his hands through the water lightly. “Do you want kids?” he asked. 

“Yeah,” Phil said softly, “I don’t know how many I just know I have to much love in my heart to not have kids.” 

“I want 2 or 3.” 

Phil kissed his shoulder and his cheek but ended up smiling against his skin, “I can just imagine a few of our kids having your curls and maybe my blue eyes, just being the cutest little kids ever.”

“I think I want all girls,” he said, “3 little princesses” 

“I always imagined I’d have a daughter too, just from being around my sister so much growing up I get along with girls better.” 

“Do you think your sister would give us an egg so that our kids could literally be half mine and your DNA?” 

“Maybe, but then our kids would be in line for the thrown right under her kids,” Phil replied, not liking the thought of them being so high up on the list. 

Dan rolled over in the water to lay on Phil’s chest more, “that’ll be okay, we can just wait till she has a few of her own first.” 

“We can get some corgis till then.” 

“We could get a whole kennel.” 

Phil ran his wet hands over Dan’s back, trailing the water all over it. He washed him some more, they made random conversation about what they’d like to do later in the week, what countries Dan’s always wanted to visit, the things he did for fun, he asked Phil if he’d want to take up boxing with him. It was something he did for stress relief and Phil only wanted to agree to see Dan kick someone’s ass. 

Once they were done and dried off they got back into bed still just as naked as they were before. Phil turned on the TV to mindlessly listen to it while they cuddled. He didn’t give a single fuck about what was happening. He was way too enthralled in how soft Dan’s skin was and how many freckles he had and the little dimples at the bottom of his spine. He was so in love with every inch of him. 

Dan fell asleep in his arms shortly after, he snored lightly. His body twitched in Phil’s arms, he made funny little hums while he settled deeper into his slumber. He was a mouth breather, his bottom lip stuck out further in his sleep, Phil wanted to squeeze his cheeks and kiss him so badly but he didn’t want to wake him. 

He was blown away by the fact this was who he’d get to see every single night before bed, and every morning when he woke up, and all day when they got to hang out. He felt more blessed than anyone on the earth, he was so madly in love. 

He turned everything off, he settled back into the bed and brought Dan’s sleeping form closer to himself, spooning him. He kissed his shoulder lightly before pressing his cheek to his shoulder where he fell asleep.


End file.
